59 Quick Slang Phrases From The 1920s We Should Start Using Again

Get ready to “know your onions,” readers. If you’ve ever wanted to talk like characters from an old movie or the folks from The Great Gatsby, now’s your chance. For the twenties lovers among us, here are 59 of the era’s best slang phrases. Now you just have to practice talking really, really fast.

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1. Ankle: to walk

2. “Applesauce!”: “Horsefeathers!”

3. “Bank’s closed!”: what you tell someone to stop making out

4. Bearcat: a lively, spirited woman, possibly with a fiery streak

5. Berries: like “bee’s knees,” denotes that something is good, desirable or pleasing. “That sounds like berries to me!”

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6. Bimbo: refers to a macho man

7. Bluenose: term for a prude or individual deemed to be a killjoy

8. Bubs: a woman’s boobs

9. “Bushwa!”: “Bullshit!”

10. “Butt me!”: “I would like a cigarette.”

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11. Cancelled stamp: a shy, lonely female, the type one would describe as a “wallflower”

12. Cash: a smooch

13. Cake-eater: in the 1920’s refers to a “ladies’ man”; later, slang for homosexual

14. Cheaters: Glasses or bifocals

15. Choice bit of calico: a desirable woman

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16. Darb: something deemed wonderful or splendid, similar to “berries”

17. Dewdropper: like lollygagger, a slacker who sits around all day and does nothing, often unemployed